Abstract:
In 2008, the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus exported $24 million worth of products and services, 30% up from the previous year, First Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences Piotr Vityaz told a press conference in Minsk on January 8, BelTA has learnt.

Belarus’ National Academy of Sciences exports $24 mln worth of products in 2008

Belarus | Posted on January 9th, 2009

In 2009, the Academy of Sciences plans to build up the export volume. "We are going through a difficult period; we occasionally encounter difficulties with the export of our products, including equipment. At the same time we should remember that during a global financial crisis scientific developments become most needed. The demand for new materials and latest technologies is rising," Piotr Vityaz said.

According to him, the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus has stepped up its work to create such products, including within the Union State. One of the brightest examples of cooperation with Russian scientists is the development of SKIF supercomputers. At the moment, Russian specialists are working on the creation of a supercomputer with a productive capacity of 500 billion operations a second. "We have to improve the computers developed earlier and train the specialists to operate them, to set up a maintenance centre and address some other issues," he added.

The Union State specialists are implementing programmes in other areas. They keep working on the unique experiment to grow transgenic goats. A programme to develop new nanomaterials for aviation and space equipment is being elaborated; an agreement has been signed with Rosnano to implement five joint projects. "They include the development of solar elements, biofilters, the use of heat pipes in power engineering," Piotr Vityaz said.